Author Topic: Paul Alter (Read 54058 times)

snowpeck · « **Reply #105 on:** May 11, 2009, 06:52:50 PM »

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'215391\' date=\'May 11 2009, 01:35 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215383\' date=\'May 11 2009, 05:15 AM\']You're reading an awful lot into it, Dave. I have no reason to believe Barker "maneuvered himself" into the nighttime show. I do know that they needed to replace Dennis James and Barker was the logical first choice. The money must have been good enough because adding a nighttime show meant doing three shows per day, something Barker had actively resisted for the daytime show.[/quote]
I had always assumed James was let go in favor of Barker. Did Dennis James, in fact, leave on his own terms?
[/quote]

It's not clear why exactly Dennis's contract wasn't renewed. The facts of the matter are, however, according to various articles in Variety at the time, Dennis's contract was expiring in 1977. The contract was only for 5 years. Barker would not have been available to do Nighttime Price had Truth or Consequences still been in production. Somehow, for some reason, it had been out of production for quite some time by that point, but the show had taped extremely far in advance, so "new" episodes were still airing. The show was set to go back into production for the 77-78 season, with Barker as host, but he had signed on to host Nighttime Price before Ralph Edwards got the chance to sign him on for another season of TorQ. So that show ended up with Bob Hilton (and failed) and Nighttime Price ended up with 3 years of Barker hosting.

Greg

whewfan · « **Reply #106 on:** May 11, 2009, 07:43:01 PM »

I wouldn't know whether to actually BELIEVE that Bob pushed to have TPIR called "Bob Barker's The Price is Right", but consider the following...

Show #5001, studio 33 is called The Bob Barker Studio
Sometime around season 30 (maybe I'm off by a year or two) the area where people are waiting in line is called the Bob Barker Prominade.
When Balance Game returned in a different format, the Barker Dollars returned. (whether the coins actually had Barker's face as in the original Balance Game, we may never know)

I don't know if Barker had any direct influence on the above, but one would wonder if CBS just did these things arbitrarily in an effort to get Bob to continue hosting Price.

I wonder why Bob would want his name attached to the show's title. I don't believe there were any other game shows on the air during Price's run that had the host's name included in the title. Can you imagine what might've happened if Bob got his way? We'd see Richard Dawson's Family Feud, Allen Ludden's Password Plus, Gene Rayburn and John Bauman's Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, etc.

While I doubt this had much to do with ego, Bob mentions in his book that during T or C, he was billed UNDER Doughnuts! The marquis on the theatre said "Doughnuts and Bob Barker". He said once T or C hit its stride, he had the billing changed to "Bob Barker and Doughnuts"

BrandonFG · « **Reply #107 on:** May 11, 2009, 07:45:42 PM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215434\' date=\'May 11 2009, 07:43 PM\']I wonder why Bob would want his name attached to the show's title. I don't believe there were any other game shows on the air during Price's run that had the host's name included in the title. Can you imagine what might've happened if Bob got his way? We'd see Richard Dawson's Family Feud, Allen Ludden's Password Plus, Gene Rayburn and John Bauman's Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, etc.[/quote]
Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak...oh, and Bobcat's Big-Ass Show.

Adam Nedeff · « **Reply #108 on:** May 11, 2009, 07:45:49 PM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215434\' date=\'May 11 2009, 07:43 PM\']When Balance Game returned in a different format, the Barker Dollars returned. (whether the coins actually had Barker's face as in the original Balance Game, we may never know)[/quote]
They were exactly the same props.

chris319 · « **Reply #109 on:** May 11, 2009, 07:54:10 PM »

Quote

It's not clear why exactly Dennis's contract wasn't renewed.

It is clear why. G-T didn't feel his emcee skills were up to snuff. I'm told Frank Wayne used to scream at him. He only did a subset of the pricing games Barker was doing on the daytime show. So they opted for Barker, who was available, and to let Dennis' contract lapse.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #110 on:** May 11, 2009, 08:02:42 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215437\' date=\'May 11 2009, 04:54 PM\']

Quote

It's not clear why exactly Dennis's contract wasn't renewed.

It is clear why. G-T didn't feel his emcee skills were up to snuff. I'm told Frank Wayne used to scream at him. He only did a subset of the pricing games Barker was doing on the daytime show. So they opted for Barker, who was available, and to let Dennis' contract lapse.
[/quote]
That's funny, because in 1972, didn't GT want Dennis James over Bob Barker?

joker316 · « **Reply #111 on:** May 11, 2009, 08:29:06 PM »

[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'215439\' date=\'May 11 2009, 08:02 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215437\' date=\'May 11 2009, 04:54 PM\']

Quote

It's not clear why exactly Dennis's contract wasn't renewed.

It is clear why. G-T didn't feel his emcee skills were up to snuff. I'm told Frank Wayne used to scream at him. He only did a subset of the pricing games Barker was doing on the daytime show. So they opted for Barker, who was available, and to let Dennis' contract lapse.
[/quote]
That's funny, because in 1972, didn't GT want Dennis James over Bob Barker?
[/quote]
Considering that James was in the pitchfilm with Goodson, it would seem that they preferred him. IIRC CBS wanted Barker because he was under contract with nothing to do. Except the pageants and Rose Parade.

To all who were there, please clarify. Thanks.

pentellit · « **Reply #112 on:** May 11, 2009, 08:51:03 PM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215434\' date=\'May 11 2009, 04:43 PM\']I wonder why Bob would want his name attached to the show's title. (note; see; "Bob Barker's Fun And Games Show).Can you imagine what might've happened if Bob got his way? We'd see Richard Dawson's Family Feud, Allen Ludden's Password Plus, Gene Rayburn and John Bauman's Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, etc.[/quote]
...or worse! I think that if Barker had gotten his way, we'd be seeing much more than Stage 33 =The Bob Barker Studio. I think we'd be seeing the new "Bob Barker's Television City", or CBS=Continuous Bob Shows, and the ABAD Cable Network (All Bob All Day), and of course Bob Barker's CSI, Bob Barker's American Idol, Bob Barker's Columbia Space Shuttle, Bob Barker's UCRAP (Ultra Conservative Republican American Party), Bob Barker's White House, Bob Barker's Statue Of Liberty.......OMG! Where would it end?

Thank goodness Mark Goodson just said "No!".

CarShark · « **Reply #113 on:** May 11, 2009, 08:53:27 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215437\' date=\'May 11 2009, 07:54 PM\']It is clear why. G-T didn't feel his emcee skills were up to snuff. I'm told Frank Wayne used to scream at him. He only did a subset of the pricing games Barker was doing on the daytime show. So they opted for Barker, who was available, and to let Dennis' contract lapse.[/quote]When you say a "subset", how many are you talking about? If I've counted right, there were 36 games in the rotation on the daytime show before the 77-78 season when Barker took over. Did the games that were featured on the daytime show but not the nighttime show to that point eventually make the move to nighttime?

tpirfan28 · « **Reply #114 on:** May 11, 2009, 09:03:04 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215444\' date=\'May 11 2009, 08:51 PM\']OMG! Where would it end?

[/quote]
The United States of Bob Barker.

/Jack Bauer couldn't even save us then

tvrandywest · « **Reply #115 on:** May 11, 2009, 09:38:26 PM »

[quote name=\'joker316\' post=\'215441\' date=\'May 11 2009, 05:29 PM\']Considering that James was in the pitchfilm with Goodson, it would seem that they preferred him. IIRC CBS wanted Barker because he was under contract with nothing to do. Except the pageants and Rose Parade. To all who were there, please clarify. Thanks.[/quote]
Without sounding like a shameless plug, the story is in the forthcoming bio on Johnny Olson. The history of the show that Johnny is most identified with is part of his tale - just hope the publisher agrees as the manuscript is presently being edited!

Briefly, Goodson was originally developing the 1972 revamp of "Price" for syndication, and Dennis was the choice for host. Plans for the daytime CBS version came during that development process, and Bud Grant at the network very strongly suggested that Barker host the network version. CBS had no creative involvement with the syndie show, and Dennis remained as the intended host.

The lesser known part of the story is that Barker, after seeing the early runthroughs, called Bud Grant for a lunch meeting to tell Grant that he didn't want to do "Price"! Unsure about the format he asked to be assigned to "Joker's Wild" or Gambit" instead. Wait for the summer/fall and read all about it ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

J.R. · « **Reply #116 on:** May 11, 2009, 09:56:38 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215444\' date=\'May 11 2009, 07:51 PM\']OMG! Where would it end?

[/quote]
Don't forget the law requiring all newborns first and middle names must be "Bob Barker", regardless of gender.

And our new hyper-inflated currency: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/JRa...trillionzim.jpg
/Credit to Mike Klauss for the pic.

SamJ93 · « **Reply #117 on:** May 11, 2009, 11:01:47 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215444\' date=\'May 11 2009, 08:51 PM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215434\' date=\'May 11 2009, 04:43 PM\']I wonder why Bob would want his name attached to the show's title. (note; see; "Bob Barker's Fun And Games Show).Can you imagine what might've happened if Bob got his way? We'd see Richard Dawson's Family Feud, Allen Ludden's Password Plus, Gene Rayburn and John Bauman's Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, etc.[/quote]
...or worse! I think that if Barker had gotten his way, we'd be seeing much more than Stage 33 =The Bob Barker Studio. I think we'd be seeing the new "Bob Barker's Television City", or CBS=Continuous Bob Shows, and the ABAD Cable Network (All Bob All Day), and of course Bob Barker's CSI, Bob Barker's American Idol, Bob Barker's Columbia Space Shuttle, Bob Barker's UCRAP (Ultra Conservative Republican American Party), Bob Barker's White House, Bob Barker's Statue Of Liberty.......OMG! Where would it end?

Thank goodness Mark Goodson just said "No!".
[/quote]

Bob Barker's Prison Supplies! Oh, wait....

As an aside...pentellit, maybe I'm reading too much into a silly joke, but was Bob really that conservative? I always thought he wasn't, with his animal rights campaign and all, but I suppose he could be conservative on other issues...

--Sam

pentellit · « **Reply #118 on:** May 11, 2009, 11:23:04 PM »

[quote name=\'SamJ93\' post=\'215456\' date=\'May 11 2009, 08:01 PM\']...was Bob really that conservative?[/quote]
I always thought he was. Like old school ultra Right Wing. According to witness testimony he restricted the number of African American contestants allowed per show, and they had to fit a negative stereotype, I mean...in this day and age? He might as well in my book have gone out on stage wearing a sheet and carrying a burning cross. What a "hateful old man" (to quote former employees).

PS I absolutely love that in the end it was an African American WOMAN who did him in!

Steve Gavazzi · « **Reply #119 on:** May 11, 2009, 11:28:35 PM »

[quote name=\'CarShark\' post=\'215445\' date=\'May 11 2009, 08:53 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215437\' date=\'May 11 2009, 07:54 PM\']It is clear why. G-T didn't feel his emcee skills were up to snuff. I'm told Frank Wayne used to scream at him. He only did a subset of the pricing games Barker was doing on the daytime show. So they opted for Barker, who was available, and to let Dennis' contract lapse.[/quote]When you say a "subset", how many are you talking about? If I've counted right, there were 36 games in the rotation on the daytime show before the 77-78 season when Barker took over. Did the games that were featured on the daytime show but not the nighttime show to that point eventually make the move to nighttime?[/quote]
Lemme pull out my handy-dandy spreadsheet.

In the first season, the nighttime show used Any Number (32 times!), Bonus Game, Double Prices, Grocery Game, Clock Game, Double Bullseye, Five Price Tags, Most Expensive, and Range Game (just once, as it was introduced in the spring). (No stats were ever kept on Double Bullseye, but I think a friend and I once figured out from the stats for all the other games that it must have been played twice.)

In the second season, Double Prices and Most Expensive were taken out of the rotation, and Lucky $even was added. (Actually, I've wondered if maybe the stats for Most Expensive are just missing -- its disappearance doesn't make a lot of sense, and the stats I do have only list enough games for 35 episodes.)

In the third season, Most Expensive returned (if it was ever really gone), Double Prices was played once (its last nighttime appearance of the James era), and Shell Game and Money Game were added. Bonus Game continued to be played regularly, even though it was out of the rotation on the daytime show for almost the whole season.

In the fourth season, 1 Right Price and Race Game were added.

In the fifth season, they added several of the games that had been introduced the previous season on the daytime show -- Cliff Hangers, Danger Price, 3 Strikes, Dice Game, and Hurdles. (Incidentally, I just blew Syd Vinnedge's mind if he's reading this.)

Unfortunately, the stats on the Barker seasons were missing when I got this info, so I don't know anything about their game rotations.